


the half of it | newmann au

by honeydewlune



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Love Letters, M/M, Multi, No Angst, Secret Admirer, Secret Crush, The Half Of It - Freeform, no homophobia!!, yes there will be conflict but no gay trauma in this work no sir
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeydewlune/pseuds/honeydewlune
Summary: Mako asks her friend Hermann for a favor—writing love notes to her cute but somewhat deranged lab partner. But how long will it take for Hermann (and Mako) to realize she isn’t the only one with a crush?a newmann college au based off the movie The Half of It (2020).(aka we’re all in quarantine so I’m writing something sweet and purely self-indulgent don't @ me)
Relationships: Newton Geiszler & Hermann Gottlieb, Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	1. no plan

_“Halt die ohren steif, mausez_ _hnchen._ _Hab keine angst, meine liebe ”_

His mother’s words were sharp in Hermann’s mind, as if only yesterday he hid fearfully behind her skirt as they stood in the hallway of his _kindergarten_. She turned, facing him as she crouched down, brushing a strand of dark blond hair behind his ear.

_“Sei mutig! Es wird dir gut gehen.”_

_Be brave, you will be all right._

_Christ, enough of the melodrama._

Hermann’s own inner monologue took over. It was his second semester, after all. He felt like a child for still feeling so intimidated. His first day of classes at Pax the previous fall had been mortifying. While most of his new peers were on their third year at the college, he was on day six of being in America. He’d been fluent in English since childhood, so that wasn’t a concern, but he felt utterly out of place walking among the cloudy, cold, and ivy-covered brick of his new home. He knew most of it was self-imposed (it would be statistically impossible for _every_ student on the quad to be staring at him simultaneously) but Hermann’s shy nature and prickly demeanor were only intensified in this strange, new land. He remained silent in his lectures unless _absolutely_ necessary, occupied empty tables at the library when he studied, and fumbled over even the most basic exchanges at the dining hall or in the dorms. Were it not for the surprisingly high population of fellow international students, Hermann doubted he would’ve spoken anything beyond _“excuse me”_ or _“could you please refrain from leaving spoons in the microwave”._

Caught up in his train of thought, Hermann nearly breezed past his Mathematical Modeling classroom. He pushed open the door, sighing in relief when he spotted Mako in a row of empty seats a few yards away from the lecture podium.

“You beat me this time,” he said. Mako laughed as he set down his bag and began rifling through its contents for his textbook.

“It was easy. I just had to walk downstairs from my first class.”

“Lucky. Why would they place the maths department in the most isolated building on campus? We’re hardly athletic.” Mako laughed again as students slowly began to trickle into the seats.

“How has first day of classes been for you? I feel like we have barely seen each other since break ended.”

_It’s miserable, I’m miserable, what the hell am I even doing here?_

“Fine. Still adjusting, I suppose. You?”

“I am excited. All of my classes this semester are for my major. Except for this . . . ”

“Hm?”

“I forget the word. The biology class, where you do the dissections.”

“Oh, you’re taking a lab this semester?”

“Yes! Thank you,” said Mako. “I have to take one. I think we have to cut open a squid, or maybe an eyeball.”

Hermann shuddered. “Disgusting.” Mako shrugged.

“I think it will be interesting. Did you get to go home at all? During break?”

_Go home? Go and take an expensive flight back to Berlin only to sit across the dinner table from my father in silence? Avert my eyes when I pass by the maid or the cook because I’m embarrassed my father can’t take care of himself without my mother? Stare at the walls full of framed medals and military awards and not a single photo of us? Of her?_

“Hermann?”

“Erm, no. It didn’t seem worth the cost of the flight, with how long I could be there. Maybe spring break.”

“Oh, okay.” Though they’d only known each other a handful of months, Hermann already knew Mako well enough to tell when there was something more she wanted to say. She hadn’t yet pressed him beyond their pleasant but so far one-dimensional friendship and he nervously anticipated when she inevitably would.

“Did you want to get lunch after class?”

“Sure, I— _christ_ ,” Hermann winced as his knee knocked against the seat in front of him. Painful tingling reverberated through his leg and into his hip, throbbing unpleasantly. He ground his teeth to temper his distress as the pain faded into a dull pulse.

“Leg still bugging you?” Mako asked, concerned. Hermann shook his head in dismissal.

“I’m fine.” Mako frowned as the scatter of conversations throughout the room faded upon the entrance of, presumably, their professor. 

Hermann dug into his pocket for a pen. “Ah, yes, I’d like to have lunch with you, Mako.”

She beamed, opening her textbook as their instructor began roll call. Hermann stared at the empty page of his notebook and, after glancing to his left and confirming Mako was engrossed in the syllabus, took his pen to the paper.

* * *

“—so I’m standing there, wearing running shorts and Allison’s badminton sweatshirt because that was the only thing I could find in the dark and—Hermann? Are you listening?”

“Forgive me, Tendo, but I’m hardly at the edge of my seat here.”

“I’m getting to the good part, I promise.”

Hermann took a sip of dismal tea from his mug as he scanned the reading for that afternoon’s Ancient Civilizations class, wondering if it might be worth it to make a pilgrimage to the grocery store in town for something other than the stale bags of Lipton’s they kept stocked in the dining hall.

“Go ahead, I’m listening.”

“So we’re all trying to figure out what’s going on, right, and everyone on the floor is peeking out from their doors or trying to find out who the fuck is _screaming_ at 3 o’clock in the morning on a Monday. And then I see the RA, Katie, you know Katie, right?

“No.”

“Okay, well, Katie is mid-argument with this dude who, if this wasn’t how he is all the time I’d assume he’d been eating bath salts. I guess the reason the fire alarm was going off was because he had been keeping a heat lamp in his room and it _exploded._ ”

“What?” Hermann looked up, his interest piqued. “What was he doing with a heat lamp?”

“So that’s the thing: this fucking guy snuck a _ball python_ into the dorms.”

“My god.”

“Yeah. I guess he got it during break and brought it back with him to campus. I mean I knew he had some fish and a lizard, I think, but this is—”

“—What happened to the snake?”

“Right, so, he had the lamp going too hot because we’re in fucking Washington, it explodes, the fire alarm starts up and he’s freaking out, and in the midst of all this, _the snake gets out._ ”

“. . . out.”

“Yeah, dude. They haven’t found it yet. Which reminds me, can I crash in your room tonight?”

Hermann sighed. “If you must.”

“Thanks, man. Anyway, crazy story, right?”

Hermann shook his head, considering. Apart from general poor hygiene and a few isolated incidents that _almost_ resulted in bodily harm, he had yet to personally witness anything at Pax that was as reckless or absurd as what Tendo had just described. Whoever this person was, he was in the running for the biggest, most irresponsible moron Hermann had ever heard of.

“You’ve got the best luck, man.”

“What do you mean?”

“You live at Pio! It’s the quietest dorm on campus, by far. And it’s got the best tasting water. Hey, Mako.”

_Thank God,_ Hermann thought. Tendo was the only person, besides Mako, at Pax that Hermann could stand to speak to for more than a few minutes. Most of the time, at least.

“Hi Tendo, how was break?” Mako asked, uncovering a steaming bowl of noodles she’d produced from her bag.

“It was awesome. Two weeks in Peru that were so beautiful I almost forgot I was there with my parents. How about you?”

“Very good. My father flew into Seattle and we spent the week there. He drove me back on Friday and he and Dr. Pentecost got to see each other.”

“Reunited at last. Hey, can I get some of that?” Tendo’s eyes were fixed on the bottle of hot sauce Mako had been emptying into her bowl. She smiled and passed it to him, turning to Hermann as Tendo began generously showering his tofu curry with sauce. 

“Hermann? Could I ask you something?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“It is kind of embarrassing.”

“Oh?” Hermann felt his face getting hot. “Do you really need to ask me, then?”

Mako frowned, and he wondered if asking Tendo more questions about the snake escapade would be worth the subject change.

“Shoot, here’s your hot sauce back Mako, I gotta hit the road.”

“Oh?” Hermann asked, hoping his voice didn’t sound as strained as he thought it did.

“Yep,” said Tendo, closing the lid to his lunch thermos and zipping up his coat. “Study group meets Mondays now, which you both are welcome to come to, by the way.”

“Thank you, Tendo. Maybe next week. Say hello to Allison for me.”

“Can do. See you tonight, Hermann?”

He smiled weakly. “Yes. See you.” Tendo hurried away, and Hermann felt Mako’s eyes on him in his peripheral.

“All right,” he sighed, after a pause. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Well, it is not so much a question. More of a favor.”

“Okay.”

“Do you remember that music class I took last semester? Jazz in the Americas?”

“Vaguely.”

“There was a boy in that class. I told you about him.”

“Mako, you can’t possibly expect me to remember someone who _you_ had a class with.”

Mako huffed. “You are so difficult. His name is Newt.”

“ _Newt?_ Come on.”

“It is short for Newton.”

“Okay. What about him?” Hermann noticed, abruptly, that Mako’s face was flushed and pink. He couldn’t tell if it was anger (at him), or embarrassment, or both.

“He is in my anatomy class; we are lab partners. And I want to ask him out. On a date. But I cannot.”

Hermann leaned back, surprised. This was the first he’d heard Mako express interest in someone. “Why not?”

She sighed. “I tried, the last week of classes before break. I was so nervous, I thought I would throw up. I ended up walking right past him. It was a disaster.”

Hermann frowned. “I’m sorry. But I don’t see how there’s anything I could do to help you.”

Undeterred, Mako unzipped the front pocket of her bookbag and produced a sheet of blank paper and an envelope. “I write him a letter and tell him how I feel, but leave my name blank.”

“Why?”

“That way, if he does not feel the same, he will never know it was me. I won’t have to avoid eye contact with him for the rest of the semester because I made an absolute fool of myself.”

“And what if he does? What if your love note is the best thing that’s ever happened to him? You’ll still have to talk to him at some point.”

“I . . . will figure that out.”

“I’m going to keep my opinions about all of this to myself in the interest of being polite. So, what am I do here? Discreetly slip this letter of yours into his sock?”

“Well . . . you write so well in English, way better than I can. You read American novels and poetry, you—”

“—hold on, Mako. This is the favor? You want me to . . . ghostwrite your love letters? Have you gone absolutely mad?”

Mako rolled her eyes. “Tendo was right, you are a _drama queen._ ”

“Why don’t you ask Tendo to be your accomplice? I’m sure he’d be interested.”

“Tendo can write code, that is it.”

“I’m sorry, Mako. I can’t help you.”

“But you can! I tried to write the letter, in Japanese. I put it into Google Translate, it came out as gibberish. Please, Hermann. I will owe you, _seriously_ owe you.”

Hermann hunched over his mug of tea, squeezing his eyes closed as a headache began to throb behind his pupils. _This is why you shouldn’t have friends, Hermann,_ he thought to himself. _Friends mean writing love letters to someone you’ve never met and sleeping on the floor because there may or may not be a python running loose on campus._

He thought about his first week at Pax, sitting at the foot of his bed, staring at the floor of his dorm room. The hum of music from down the hall, a bubble of laughter, a frisbee zooming by his window as it zipped between hands in the quad below.

He’d never felt so alone.

Two quick knocks at the door startled him. “Hello?”

“May I come in?” 

“I—erm, sure.” 

The door clicked open. A girl, her long black hair tied up loosely, poked her head into the room, smiling sheepishly.

“Sorry to bother you. Someone mentioned you just transferred? From Belgium?

“No. Berlin,” he added, as she continued to stare at him expectantly.

“Berlin! Still so far away. I am a transfer, too. From Tokyo.”

“Okay.”

“We are watching a movie in my room. _Paprika._ Do you want to watch it with us?”

“Oh, thank you, but—”

“—you will love it! It is what they based _Inception_ off of.” Before he could say anything more to the contrary, she was pulling him into the hallway.

“My name is Mako. What is yours?”

“Hermann.”

“It is nice to meet you _. Hermann?_ ”

He blinked. Mako was still looking at him. He sighed.

“One letter, Mako. _One._ ”

 _“Sumimasen, arigatougozaimasu!”_ Mako threw her arms around him in an embrace while Hermann tried not to wince; his friend was deceptively muscular, and her passive strength alone was enough to leave an accidental bruise. As much as he hated to admit it, he was touched by her gleeful affection, and apparent confidence in his writing skills.

_One letter._ _And I’ll never have to think about this nonsense again._


	2. talk

Newt shifted idly from side to side, all the while fidgeting with the pop-socket glued to the back of his phone. It clicked absently, accompanied by the barely audible melody escaping from the loose earbud dangling over his shoulder. Herc observed all of this while he sorted through the library catalog on his computer screen and shook his head.

“Newton, I’ve never seen someone in such a state of constant motion.”

“Who? Me?”

“Yes. _You._ ” Herc frowned as he typed in yet another search term. “It doesn’t look like we’ve got what your looking for in the stacks.”

“Aw, really? That sucks, dude. I was really hoping there’d be something.” 

“There is, just not at Pax. But it does look like we could get a copy loaned from the Seattle Marine Institute’s library. Do you want me to make the request?”

“That would be awesome, thanks. How long d’you think it’ll be?”

“It shouldn’t be longer than a week. You’ll get notification in your student email when it’s ready for pick-up. Just give us a call if you don’t hear anything.”

“Much appreciated, Dr. Hansen. Hey, why’re you at the desk today, anyway?”

“Well, my good for nothing son has to make up an exam this afternoon, and I couldn’t possibly have anything more important to do than cover his shift and answer questions from students such as yourself.”

Newt laughed. He really Dr. Hansen, and the Aussie accent made any joke he made at least ten times funnier. “Cool, cool. Thanks again.” He turned toward the door, catching a glimpse of Raleigh conversing with a girl whose hair was so ashen white it was nearly translucent.

“Hey! Raleigh!” Newt called, as a wave of annoyed expressions from those studying pointed toward him. Raleigh bid a quick goodbye to the girl and hurried towards him.

“Dude, quiet down. It’s a library.”

“Sorry. Who was that?”

“Who? Oh.” Raleigh looked back over his shoulder. “She’s in my German class.”

“Nice, cool hair. I’ve been thinking about bleaching mine.”

Raleigh laughed. “You’d look like a mad scientist.”

“That’s kinda what I’m going for, right?”

The two breezed into the courtyard, settling without a word into their path toward the auditorium. Newt and Raleigh liked to think of themselves as “reformed music majors”, who in their first semester had the same group lesson block. Raleigh played on the drum kit, while Newt was semi-passable at guitar. But, because they were students at a STEM university rather than a music conservatory, that meant they were both delegated to the same place: percussion. After two months trying to learn the marimba, they both declared new majors. On the bright side, that didn’t stop them from occupying a practice room a few times a week and churning out incomprehensible noise, much to the dismay of anyone else within hearing distance.

“Any luck on finding Priscilla?”

“Not yet, dude. I’m starting to get worried. She’s not tiny but she’s still small enough to get stuck somewhere, and I doubt she’s eaten anything.”

“And she might, you know, bite someone.”

Newt waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, she wouldn’t do that. Unless she was really scared or something.”

“I don’t mean to like, get on your case or anything, but I—”

“Hey!” Newt squeaked. “I know where this is going. I shouldn’t have brought her back to campus with me. You’re completely right. But how could I come back from break knowing she was stuck in some nasty tank? There’s no way my uncle would’ve kept her, he hates snakes.”

“Newt, your love for freaky animals is one of my favorite things about you. I mean that. But I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if you stop trolling Craiglist for exotic frogs to rescue each week.”

Newt sucked his teeth. “Yeah. Probably. Priscilla is the last one, you’ve got my word.”

Raleigh laughed. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Sorry, one sec.” He reached into his pocket as his phone began to buzz and chime.

“The only calls I get aside from scams are from my uncle,” Newt said absently, and Raleigh mouthed _Yancy_ as he put his ear to the receiver. _Makes sense,_ thought Newt. Raleigh’s brother was curiously analog when it came to most things, despite the whole _identical twin_ thing.

“ . . . yes, why? Can you speak up? I can barely . . . Huh? All right, all right. Text me the address,” Raleigh shook his head, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

“Sorry Newt, I gotta bail. I guess Yancy and Nadirah broke up.”

“Shit. Poor guy.”

“I’m reserving my sympathy for the moment, because whatever he said pissed Nadi off enough to leave him on the side of the road coming back from the beach.”

“ _Hoo boy._ ”

“Yeah. I gotta pick his sorry ass up. Do you want to come with, actually? I’m sure Yancy wouldn’t mind.”

“Ah—normally I’d say yes, because I love seeing him suffer, but I think I’m going to give finding Priscilla another shot.”

“Good plan. Well, I’ll see you later, man.”

“Yeah, say hi to Yancy for me.”

Raleigh took off in a light jog, and Newt looked down to check his watch. It was nearly 4, and as he turned back t0wards his dorm building Newt figured there was _maybe_ another hour of decent sunlight to search in. When the heat lamp exploded, and _boy_ , if it hadn’t been for the chaos that immediately ensued it would’ve been _so_ badass, Newt reckoned that Priscilla had two potential points of exit. First, through the hallway, after he threw open his door to help ventilate the smoke. Since the communal bathroom was around the corner, she could’ve made it in there easy before the rest of the floor started flooding into the hallway and dipped into a sink or toilet pipe. He hoped that wasn’t the case, as she’d probably been dumped into the Pacific Ocean by now. What he hoped was that she’d just hid in the corner of his room or under his bed until the commotion died down and was still somewhere in the dorm or immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, there had yet to be any sightings of her.

“Please don’t be dead,” he murmured, scanning the long stretch of pavement and surrounding grass and bushes while he walked toward the front entrance.

_If I don’t find you, I am so fucked._

* * *

“—don’t be sorry, babe. I’m all set at Hermann’s; we’re having a sleepover. ”

“Will you stop calling it that?”

Tendo snickered. “It looks like I’ve angered the missus . . . Yeah, sounds good. Goodnight Allie—I love you too.”

“I’m the nagging wife, says you, who’s demanding to sleep here?”

“Yes, Hermann, you are, and I’m the sexy husband who just spent our daughter’s college fund on a brand-new BMW.”

“My condolences to Allison. Not that I mind, but why can’t you stay with her?” Hermann rose from his desk chair, rolling his shoulders and releasing a chorus of _clicks_ as his joints popped. He began rummaging through his dresser for sleep clothes as Tendo alternated between typing on his laptop and texting.

“Dude, it’s nuts. Allie’s parents are _really_ old-fashioned, like full-on Amish type shit. And despite their daughter being a complete adult who can make her own decisions they aren’t exactly thrilled with her dating a non-Caucasian financial aid recipient such as myself. I can’t even get a pass from being a model minority, man.”

“I thought my parents were strict,” Hermann murmured, tossing his trousers into his laundry basket, and reaching his legs through a neatly pressed pair of sweatpants.

“Military generals _wish_ they had the stoic authority of Bernard and Linda Greene. They hate me so much they’ve started _paying_ Allison’s roommate Chloe to report back to them if I spend the night. Can you fucking believe?”

Hermann turned around, bewildered. “They can do that?”

“Apparently! For the low price of $100 every time she decides to snitch, you can buy out your daughter’s roommate. Fuck me, man.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. I guess Allie’s used to her parents pulling this kind of shit, but it still blows my mind. She’s pissed, but her and Chloe weren’t all that tight to begin with, so she’s not broken up about that. And, to be honest, it’s kinda hot to sneak around with each other like it’s this big secret. She just can’t spend the night at my place more than once or twice a week without Chloe reporting back and her parents getting suspicious. More time to study, I guess. _And_ have sleepovers with my best pal Hermann Gottlieb.”

Hermann rolled his eyes, stepping over Tendo’s outstretched legs to look for a shirt in his closet.

“Hey, that doesn’t actually bug you, does it? ‘Cause I can cut it out. If it’s too like, intimate or whatever.”

Hermann paused for a moment, before pulling his sweater over his head, hanging it on an empty hanger. He considered for a moment as he shed his undershirt and placed it into the hamper.

“Because, like, I totally get it. Everyone knows I’m bi, including you, but I still understand if it’s like, weird for me to—”

“No, Tendo. It isn’t weird, and it doesn’t bother me. I just . . .” he trailed off, trying to figure out how to complete the thought without sounding like an imbecile.

“ . . . I never, ah, had such a thing when I was a child. My father thought that time spent with other children outside of school was a waste of time. I was made to feel very foolish for asking, so—”

“—oh! So not a gay thing, just a shitty dad thing.”

“ . . . yes.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, Hermann. That sucks, I feel bad for reminding you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hermann said, wishing feverishly for a change of subject. It wasn’t much, but this small nugget of information was the most he’d ever shared with a non-family member about his childhood, and he felt like he was having a stroke.

“I appreciate you sharing that with me, man. I’m honored.”

Hermann swallowed. “Okay.”

“Seriously, that takes a lot of trust and vulnerability. That’s what Allison said when I told her I liked butt stuff.”

“Tendo, I value our friendship, and I need you to stop talking.”

“Not a problem, my guy. You know, you’re the chilliest straight dude I’ve ever met.”

Hermann opened his mouth to reply, but remained silent, shrugging into a soft, moss green Pax Bay t-shirt (and his only article of clothing that had any text on it, period).

_Should I tell him I’m gay?_

_He almost certainly wouldn’t treat me any differently._

_Maybe. But not tonight._

“I need to brush my teeth; I’ll be back in a moment.” Hermann reached into a drawer for his toiletry bag, slipping his feet into a pair of slippers he kept by the door for in-dorm travel. He rounded the corner to the communal bathroom, wrinkling his nose at the overwhelming odor of cologne mingling with some brand of fruit-scented shampoo.

He leaned over the sink, wetting his toothbrush, and squeezing a thin layer of toothpaste over its bristles. As he scrubbed it against his teeth, he frowned at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was getting too long, but he hated going in to get it cut. He could hear his mother’s voice in his head, teasingly calling him a _bohemien_ whenever it became too unruly and insisting on bringing him to the barber who cut his father’s hair. What a horrible man. He leaned in far too close, even for a barber, and his breath reeked of onions. Maybe he’d ask Mako. Or even Allison. Girls were good at cutting hair, right? 

Still lost in his train of thought, Hermann leaned back over the sink to spit.

Instead, he screamed.


End file.
